Source: St. Louis Post-Dispatch
[stltoday.com/blogzone/civil-religion/nance/2009/12/local-artist-sends-prayer-for-unity-to-parliament-of-world-religions/]
On this first full day of the Parliament of World Religions (PWR) in Melbourne, Australia, a group of Pagans met to give blessings to four rattles created by St. Louis artist Julee Higginbotham.
The rattles, called “Bridge to the Meeting Place,” were created to symbolize the coming together of religions and people from around our planet. Julee has blended Aboriginal and Neo-Pagan symbols into a clay prayer for understanding. They will be given to Pagans from North America and Australia, and to two PWR delegates.
She got the idea from Pagan delegate and PWR board member Angie Buchanan.
“She was talking about how everyone is their own island, and we build bridges of tolerance and understanding between each other and between cultures and religions. So I wanted to do something with the bridge idea,” Julee said.
She spent hours looking through books about Aboriginal art and Aboriginal symbols. She wanted a design that honored their traditions.